Friday, October 27, 2017

Magic Fast Start Shouldn't be a Surprise

Four games into the season, the Orlando Magic have been the surprise of the NBA this year. At 3-1, the Magic have stormed out too first place in the Eastern Conference. Some fans will shrug it off as a fluke but this team is quietly building a solid team.

The team will get a tough test tonight when they host the San Antonio Spurs. Like the majority of the fans, I would admit that a 3-1 start is nothing to get excited about however the Eastern Conference is so weak that the Magic would just have to go 500. the rest of the way to in theory make the playoffs.

This is a franchise that hasn't seen playoffs since the lockout shortened year in 2011-12. Since then, this team has added strong draft picks such as Aaron Gordon and most recently Jonathan Isaac as well as adding Nikola Vučević through trade in late 2010. We all know about how good the 76ers might be but are the Magic the team that is on the rise that no one is talking about? In ESPN's first power rankings, they were slated at #24 before taking a modest leap to 19 this week. They can take a bigger leap next week with a win over the Spurs in a game that has to be considered atleast winnable considering that the Spurs might be due for a loss and the fact they aren't the same Spurs team in the Tim Duncan era. The NBA is a waiting game. Think about it, Golden State was trash before Stephan Curry was drafted. They built around him by adding Klay Thompson and Draymond Green before adding their final piece of the puzzle with Kevin Durant during free agency the summer after losing to Cleveland in the finals in 2016. Therefore, its never easy to predict when the next monster team will come around. Orlando has two finals appearances and both were with amazing players. In 19955 it was the team with Shaquille O'Neal and in 2009 Dwight Howard doubled the Magic's total with another appearance.

Jonathan Isaac was named one of the steals of the draft last year thanks to the elite players that went before him in last years loaded draft. If the Magic can build on what there putting together, a playoff appearance might be just around the corner.